SCP Corporation: Contain Bonfire

[After being on guard for a while, you finally couldn't resist trying something. You began with small movements of your body and, finding no attack, you turned around...]

[What you saw shocked you. Inside the church, there were corpses everywhere, all of them having died in a kneeling pose of worship, and the direction of their worship was toward the pulpit inside the church where there seemed to be an Octagonal Star Altar.]

[You headed toward the altar once you were sure that the reason the invisible monster wasn't attacking anymore was that it somehow didn't enter the church.]

[Because you were certain that the signal was coming from that Octagonal Star Altar.]

[During this time, you were always cautiously avoiding the corpses on the ground, fearing they might resurrect. Fortunately, that did not happen. They were more thoroughly dead than you had expected, and even a mage capable of resurrecting the dead would struggle to bring them back to life.]

[Before long, you arrived in front of the altar and saw the Former Company Employee.]

[His condition surprised you.]

[However, thankfully, apart from the unexpected condition of the Former Company Employee, no other surprises occurred.]

[You successfully completed the mission.]

[You returned to reality and became an official employee of the Bonfire Company, and the rewards obtained from this mission enabled you to stand up from your wheelchair once again.]

[Not long after, you descended into this world again, this time feeling fully prepared to deal with the enemy outside the church.]

[So, you didn't hesitate and promptly opened the door to confront the enemy.]

[After stepping out, you used a color spray, attempting to make the enemy visible, but it wasn't successful, and not long after, you were attacked again.]

[Using the special ability "Deadly Insight," a passive derived instinctively from "Beast Transformation Syndrome," you managed to dodge the attacks three seconds in advance several times, but you still failed to spot your opponent.]

[Unable to detect the enemy, you tried to return to the church, but unfortunately, you didn't succeed and were decapitated halfway there.]

[Before dying, you finally realized...]

[The enemy's power wasn't invisibility, but some other method, and it definitely had a corporeal entity.]

[But before you could figure out why...]

[You died.]

The content of the page, just like before, was etched into your brain before disappearing.

That sensation of being beheaded occurred once again.

After skimming the information for the first time, Colin extracted several relatively important pieces of intelligence.

"First, there's no danger inside the church, and as long as you enter here, it seems that the monster outside won't come in..."

"Second, the Former Company Employee is indeed here, but his condition seems poor and he's unable to respond, probably injured by the enemy outside..."

"Third, the Bonfire Company really has a means to cure 'Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis'..."

Colin paused in his thoughts at this point, for him, these were the most important pieces of information at the moment.

Having confirmed these points, Colin pondered the last few sentences.

The monster outside isn't invisible?

"Not invisible, yet possesses a skill similar to invisibility? And it has a physical body..."

Colin thought briefly before putting the matter aside.

This problem could wait until later; completing the mission was now the most important thing!

"I don't want to stay in this damned place for another second!"

Colin took a deep breath and turned around.

Even with mental preparation, the scene inside the church still managed to shock him...

In the church hall of about a thousand square meters, there were densely packed corpses.

They were all desiccated mummies, skin and flesh withered away, crowded against each other, all kneeling in supplication towards the back of the church.

Following the direction of these people's worship.

There was an altar, with several items placed upon it, and next to it were some white candles that had melted away.]

Suddenly, a multitude of associations sprang to his mind.

The people in the town hadn't run away, but had come here?

What were they worshiping?

And what were they hiding from?

The invisible enemy outside?

No... it couldn't be, if it had attacked, there should have been torn bodies, not mummies. Moreover, the disaster stretched across at least tens to hundreds of kilometers, even passing bacteria would die...

Colin collected his thoughts, took a deep breath, and then carefully walked over to the location of the altar — just like mentioned in the [Book of Fate: Fragment].

Now what he needed to do was to follow the steps and get the job done.

With his large body awkwardly tiptoeing, he walked past corpse after corpse, approaching the altar to see the items placed on top —

A polished, lustered skull with many mysterious runes, missing its jaw and placed in the center; a palm-sized badge covered in rust marks, positioned to the left; a damaged, rust-filled... revolver to the right?

Speaking of which... where was the former colleague?

Colin was somewhat puzzled; he hadn't seen his former colleague as the Book of Fate had described...

At that moment, a piece of information appeared in his mind.

[Signal origin confirmed, "Event One" is complete, would you like to complete this event?]

"That's it? Where's the former company employee? Wait a minute..."

Colin suddenly realized something, his gaze shifting to the skull on the altar — could that be the former company employee?

"Event One" flickered slightly in his mind, giving him a kind of "revelation" from above, which made him realize that this indeed was the former employee.

"Fuck!"

Colin cursed. Before he entered the church, he thought that this employee might be in a tight spot, needing assistance. Having not found him in the church, he suspected maybe he was seriously injured and unconscious, or possibly already dead.

But he had never imagined that not only was the former employee dead, but his head had been chopped off and turned into an artifact for worship.

This...

This was a bit awkward.

Colin looked back at the large group of desiccated corpses behind him — were the local residents this unfriendly?

Or had this brother done something to incur the wrath of heaven and the resentment of others?

"However, this brother... it's no wonder the 'Book of Fate' mentioned I'd feel surprised..."

At the time, he was thinking, what kind of scenario had he not witnessed on his way here? Whether severely injured and unconscious or dead, none of it would be surprising...

But after arriving here...

Looking at this polished, shining skull — indeed, he had never seen such a thing.

Colin took a deep breath, suppressed the excitement stirring within him, and chose to confirm the task completion.

Immediately afterward, a transparent vortex suddenly formed in front of him.

The vortex generated a suction force, directly pulling in the skull and badge from the altar —

Task completed!

At the same time, the world in front of him started to lose color, becoming blurry, as if smeared with layer upon layer of mosaic, gradually losing its original colors and contours.

In a very short amount of time, the place turned into a grey, hazy space.

Dong——Dong——Dong——

Ancient, distant, and heavy bell sounds rose up beside his ears.

[Initiating "Descent Protocol G-2"...]